


Apparitions

by rarmaster



Series: my body is an orphanage [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Bodysharing, Gen, Narrator!Xion, do fandoms outside of undertale even have tags for narrator aus lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:50:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7104181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas wakes up to a perfectly normal day of summer vacation in Twilight Town! Well, you know, normal outside the word photo being stolen, and the voice in the back of his head, that is.</p><p>Aka: a NarraXion AU that spiraled well out of my control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apparitions

**Author's Note:**

> Ideas for a "Roxas narrates Sora's adventure / provides flavor text" AU for KH2 have already been tossed around, but when I saw the phrase "the darts you and Hayner always play with" I was like. Wait a minute. _Who narrates for Roxas?_
> 
> Also, [this is a thing](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjqVLy1WYAA3rxW.jpg), and part of what inspired the fic to begin with.

**_The 1st Day_ **

When you wake up from another dream about the boy in red, something feels… _off._ You can’t place what, exactly, but something’s hazy and wrong. And, as you open your window to a view of perpetual sunset over an orange city, your mind tells you that you should remember this view, since this is the view you wake up to every morning, but your heart isn’t into it.

You get dressed and head to the Usual Spot in the same haze, and find yourself sitting on some boxes as your friends—are they your friends? No, what a silly question, of course they are!—talk about things that have been stolen. Hayner asks what you think you all should do about it, and it takes Olette nudging you to actually look up at him. It’s a few moments before your brain comes up with an answer ( _“Well, maybe if we find and return what’s been stolen?”),_ and inside of you still feels kind of jostled and wrong.

Your friends all run out to get started on the mission, but you hear a voice, then:

‘ _Who’s there?’_

“Who are you?” you say back.

The voice is so familiar your chest aches for some reason, though you _know_ you’ve never heard this voice before in your life! It sounds like it belongs to a boy about your age, and, you know him, something in you insists you know him—

You wake up to Olette calling your name, and find yourself face-first on the dusty ground in the Usual Spot. Olette doesn’t comment on how you had just passed out or anything, just tells you to hurry up.

From that point on you hear a voice, a whisper, in the back of your mind.

It’s not the boy’s voice.

It belongs to a girl.

 

**x   x   x**

You linger in the Usual Spot longer than your friends probably want you to, trying to get a sense of all this stuff you know you remember but also feel like you’ve never seen before. As you study each object, that girl’s voice speaks.

‘ _The darts you and Hayner always play with,_ ’ she says.

And like that, a memory comes back to you—more a feeling than a memory, actually. Of you and Hayner laughing, of your darts always making their mark perfectly while his bounce off. You smile at the dartboard, and move on.

Your eyes fall to the beat up couch against the other wall.

‘ _Pence and Olette’s couch,’_ the girl says. Just like last time, this brings feelings of familiarity into your mind.

You do that with a few more objects and then, feeling settled in this world, you hurry to catch up to your friends.

You don’t need much help from then on. Every person you meet in town is someone you know, and the events of the day start to feel normal again. Sure, no one can say the word “photo” aloud still, and that’s weird, but that jostling feeling inside you is gone.

This is Twilight Town, this is your home, and you remember every person and everything here.

The girl speaks to you a few times, but, each time she does, she sounds progressively more and more distant, and she reminds you about things in the town with less and less conviction. It’s like now _she’s_ the one who’s unsure about things!

(You feel like you asked her once, or maybe twice, who she is and what she’s doing in your head. But, if you did, you don’t remember her answer. You’ve given up questioning it.)

“Wait, what was _that_!?” Olette shouts, as a more-flexible-than-actually-possible white _thing_ makes off with Pence’s camera, along with the photo he just took of you kicking Seifer’s butt.

‘ _Dusks!_ ’ says the girl inside you, and her voice has never sounded clearer. ‘ _Quick, after them, Roxas!_ ’

(You don’t ask how she knows your name. You don’t need to.)

 

**_The 2nd Day_ **

When you wake up this morning, you hear the girl’s voice almost immediately.

‘ _Something’s wrong, Roxas.’_

“What?” you say, aloud. You’re in your own room, so it’s not like anyone’s going to hear you talking to yourself. You stop staring at your hand and look up, look around, though you know you will not see her. “What are you talking about?”

‘ _This town, your memories—something’s WRONG._ ’

You scoff, confused, a little appalled. “What do you _mean_ there’s something wrong with my memories?”

‘ _We’ve been to this town before, Roxas, but not like THIS. You shouldn’t know half the things you know about it. We’ve never MET these people before!’_

“Yeah we have!” you protest. “Come on, you remember them, don’t you?” She’d given you all sorts of info on them! Or, a little, at least.

‘ _I mean, I… I know the things about them that you do,_ ’ she answers, sounding a little bit defeated. But then she presses on with: ‘ _But these aren’t your memories!_ ’

“How do you know?” you demand.

‘ _Because I remember,’_ she says. ‘ _Don’t you_?’

You think about that for a moment, then angrily swing your feet out of your bed. She isn’t making any sense! You stalk over to your dresser and pull out clothes for today. The sooner you get to the Usual Spot, the better. You just want to enjoy this summer vacation with your friends while it lasts.

 

**x   x   x**

_You saw that guy trip me, didn’t you?_ you ask, silently, as your friends slink out of the train station. It’s not like they can do anything else, seeing as you lost all the money you needed for the tickets.

‘ _Of course I did,’_ the girl replies.

 _Why didn’t Hayner, Pence, and Olette see him?_ you continue, scowling hard. You follow after your friends at a slower pace, wanting to have the privacy for this silent conversation.

‘ _I keep telling you, something’s wrong here, Roxas._ ’

_Well, obviously!_

_‘I don’t think we’re supposed to be here.’_

You shove your hands in your pockets and shuffle down the steps outside the station, scowling harder. You don’t want to hear her go off about this again. This is your _home_. Of course you’re supposed to be here.

**_The 3rd Day_ **

The first time you used the Keyblade, it was a dazzling white, and it came to you in a flash of pixels and other things that the girl inside you described adamantly as _data, that looks like data._ You hadn’t needed her help fighting—that was second nature to you, and as long as you didn’t trip yourself up by wondering where you’d learn to fight like this, you did fine.

The second time you used the Keyblade was when a group of Dusks attacked you and Seifer’s gang. Another girl you had just met (it wasn’t the same girl, their voices were different, and though you had never seen the girl whispering in your mind, you knew they did not look anything alike) had shouted at you, _“Use the Keyblade, Roxas!”_

But you didn’t know how to get it to come to you. You didn’t know if you needed magic words, or if you needed to think something in particular, so all you could do was hold up your hands to protect your face—

Then there was a warmth in your hands, and a weight as well. The Keyblade had never felt heavy, and the metal never cold, but its presence brought bile to your throat. This time, it was black, and looked completely different.

 _‘There, just like you helped me!_ ’

_What?_

But the Dusks were coming at you, and you didn’t have time to think about it.

 

**x   x   x**

 

Somewhere between the Keyblade and the Dusks you blink and find yourself in a really strange place. Or, maybe you beat the Dusks, and woke up here…? You don’t remember.

There is darkness all around, and stained glass under your feet. You don’t feel scared, or worried, but you are _extremely_ confused. The girl in your head has no advice to offer. She’s gone completely silent.

The Keyblade comes to your hand whenever you will it to, this time. So that’s a plus. You aren’t sure why it’s gone back to a white color, though.

You make your way through this place, guided by another voice, a voice that is equally as strange as it is somehow familiar, just like the rest of the voices you've heard lately. You heed its advice, because, there’s nothing else you really can do, even though you are starting to get _extremely_ tired of being ordered around.

You finally stop on a stained glass platform that looks all the rest, though perhaps the colors are brighter on this one. There is no staircase leading off of it, and you examine the darkness beyond it, trying to figure out what to do. There is no voice to guide you, here.

But…

There is movement on the edge of your vision, and you _feel_ a presence behind you.

Keyblade coming to your hand, you turn—

—and you see not a Dusk, but a figure in a black cloak.

“Roxas…” the figure says.

It’s the girl! The one you’ve been hearing! You banish the Keyblade and run over to her, stopping within a respectable distance, though some part of you wants to throw your arms around her. You aren’t sure why. Something tickles in the back of your mind.

“Why is your hood up…?” you ask her. You hesitate at the end of the question, wanting to tack her name onto it, but you do not know her name. You feel like you should. The sensation is much like not being able to say the word _photo,_ except now you cannot think the word, either.

“I was just afraid…” she begins, then shakes her head. “No, there isn’t time. You have to listen to me, Roxas. Something is _wrong_ here!”

Your gladness at seeing her turns a bit sour. “Yeah, I know,” you scoff. “You won’t shut up about it.” You still aren’t sure you believe her.

“Please, I’m serious!” she says, and her voice shakes. You can almost picture the way she scowls in your mind’s eye, but once you realize that, the image is gone. “Twilight Town is not your home, and these people… You’ve _never known them_. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t—”

“How can you say that about my friends?” you interrupt, glaring. Maybe you haven’t known Hayner and Pence and Olette for your whole life or anything, but you do _know them._ Of course you do…!

That jostling feeling you haven’t had for a while now starts up again, though. There’s something about what this girl is saying, something about this place, something about the other girl you met. Something isn’t adding up. You aren’t sure what, but…

“They _aren’t_ your friends, Roxas!” she shouts.

You quickly push the jostling and the doubt away as best as you can.

“ _Of course they are!_ ” you yell back. “How can you say…?”

Something in your chest aches, and it aches hard. You feel like you’ve been betrayed, let down by one of the most important people in your life. But, you don’t know this girl. You know Hayner and Pence and Olette. _They’re_ you’re friends, and what right does _she_ have saying they’re not?

She stares at you for a long moment, or, you think she does. Then she looks away.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “But we have to get out of this somehow. You have to wake up.”

She raises her arm above her head, and—

(You have trouble remembering this conversation, later, and it takes all your concentration to summon its memory. The fight afterwards, against the monster the girl summoned, you don’t forget.)

 

 

**_The 4th Day_ **

Today’s the Struggle Match, which you’re pretty excited about, minus the bit that Hayner’s mad at you and you’re up against him first. He tells you not to worry about yesterday, but the sight of him pointing his struggle bat directly at you puts a pit in your stomach for some reason.

 _‘Roxas, focus!’_ the girl inside you shouts. On reflex, you side-step out of the way of what would have been a winding blow to your stomach.

You move in to strike back at Hayner, but narrowly miss on purpose. Hayner lets out a laugh of triumph as he cracks his bat against your back, then scrambles to pick up the orbs you drop as you trip.

‘ _Roxas_! _What are you doing?_ ’

You don’t answer, because you’re busy getting back to your feet, but your idea bounces around in your head for her to hear anyway. You were thinking about throwing the match, because that’s bound to improve Hayner’s mood, right?

‘ _You can’t do that!_ ’ the girl yelps, and then your feet move, dancing away from Hayner in a movement that you, a boy who grew up in Twilight Town, should not know. Your arms ready your own struggle bat, and there’s a heat in your chest that you recognize. You rush at Hayner.

You don’t hit him as hard as your movements suggested you were going to, but you’re still reeling, mentally, from what just happened.

 _What are you DOING?_ you splutter, wondering how you’re supposed to get control of your body back.

‘ _If you aren’t going to win, then I’m going to,’_ the girl replies. Her nerves are like steel, and she runs in at Hayner again. She doesn’t move much differently than you would have, but there is a quickness about you that you’re not used to.

_Why!?_

_‘You promised Hayner you’d make it to the finals, right? You stand a much better chance than he does against Seifer, and you know it._ ’

You want to argue, but, she’s right. Hayner’s good, but if there’s anything these last few days have proved to you, it’s that compared to Dusks and everything else you’ve had to fight, a Struggle Match is nothing.

You cream Hayner completely, in the end. He isn’t too mad. Your day is going pretty well, if you do say so yourself. Certainly better compared to yesterday.

And then Vivi wins his match against Seifer.

And then you’re up against Vivi in the final match, and, honestly, you have never seen him fight like this before? You’ve never, actually, seen Vivi fight at all. What’s he doing here? When did he learn how to do this stuff?

‘ _I don’t like this, Roxas_ …’

 _Neither do I,_ you agree.

You don’t hold back.

It’s a good thing, too, because Vivi turns into a bunch of Dusks, and then you’re fighting and sweating in complete silence, because time has stopped and the town has frozen around you. It’s the most unsettling thing, and it’s a relief to hear someone clapping when you finish the Dusks off.

Then you realize the clapping is happening in a vacuum—it’s only one person clapping, and there’s no other sound besides it for a good few moments.

“Alright, Roxas! Fight fight _fight!_ ”

You recognize the voice, you think—no. The feeling is gone. You turn around to look who’s there anyway, and find a man in a black cloak. He’s throwing his hood back, revealing his face.

The girl inside you yelps. ‘ _Axel!? What’s he doing here!’_

Your face scrunches up.

“Who—?” you begin, forgetting to speak silently.

“So you really _don’t_ remember?” The man in the cloak seems offended. “Come on. It’s me. _Axel._ ”

He’s Axel. Something itches furiously in the back of your mind, and the girl in your head feels like she’s starting to panic. Do you recognize him? You don’t think you do, but your stomach wants to bottom out. Your muscles tense like you want to run.

“What are you doing here?” you ask him. It’s your question as much as it is the girl’s. You want to know who he is and what he’s doing in your town. She wants to know how he found you.

“Listen, we don’t have a lot of time,” Axel answers, sending a wary glance around him at the town. “If you come back quietly, the boss might just be nice to you. Then we can put this whole fiasco behind us.”

‘ _Roxas, you have to get out of here,_ ’ the girl pleads. You feel a grasping sensation inside of you, like she’s trying to find purchase so she can move your legs. ‘ _I know you don’t remember him, and I’ll try and explain later, but if he takes you back to the Organization, then—!’_

You shake your head hard. You look first at the frozen town people around you, then at Axel, then the Keyblade in your hands. Something boils inside you. You are so tired of not understanding anything, and you’re doubly tired of this _girl in your mind who won’t tell you a darn useful thing._

“What’s going ON?!” you shout, and you throw your Keyblade at the ground.

It skids across the Struggle Stage you’re standing on, stops a couple of feet behind Axel. There’s a pause, almost like Axel’s waiting for it, then there’s a tug in your chest and a warmth in your hand. The Keyblade returns to it in a rush of wind.

You want to blame the girl, but you know it wasn’t her. The Keyblade is still white.

“Number 13,” Axel says, like it means anything. “The Keyblade’s chosen.”

‘ _Please, you have to run!’_

You grit your teeth together, then bring your Keyblade to your side, gripping it tight. You don’t want to run. You want to wipe that smirk of Axel’s face.

“OKAY, FINE!” you shout, as you run towards him. “YOU ASKED FOR IT!”

He blocks the downwards coming of your swing with his chakrams. He leaps back, and like you know what’s coming, you roll out of the way before he can even throw fire-wreathed rings of death at you. The girl in your head shuts up so you can focus. You count it as a blessing.

“You sure you don’t remember me?” Axel calls.

“SHUT UP!”

You run at him again, and swing from the side this time. Something tells you he’s a lot worse at blocking blows like these, and obviously it’s true, because this hit connects.

‘ _Go for his dumb knees,_ ’ the girl says.

So you crack your blade across those, and Axel yelps, a string of curses flying from his lips as he leaps away from you again. You find yourself smiling. Growling, you turn it into a scowl.

“You sure didn’t forget how to pack a _punch,_ ” Axel grinds out.

You toss your Keyblade at him, and it whirls through the air in a perfect arc. Axel sees it coming and jumps out of the way, but while he’s distracted with that, you run at him. You don’t need to pick up the Keyblade—it just comes back to your hands when you want it, and you’re in past Axel’s defenses, and you swing your blade into his stomach as he turns to you.

The air goes out of his lungs. The chakrams fall from his hands. He stumbles back, and though he doesn’t fall, he sure doesn’t look too great. You allow yourself to feel satisfied.

“ _Roxas_ ,” he wheezes. “Come on. Is that really how you’re gonna treat your—uh-oh!”

The town wavers around you for a moment, a sign you recognize as bad bad bad bad. Before you can say anything, or Axel can do anything, there’s a burst of pixels and numbers to your left and standing there is a man in red.

Axel smirks, though he still seems pretty winded. “So it _was_ you,” he says smugly, and he calls his chakrams back. He throws them straight at the man.

They bounce off.

“Roxas,” the man in red turns to you, completely unperturbed. “This man speaks nonsense!”

“Roxas!” Axel calls. “He’s deceiving you! This town isn’t even—”

‘ _Roxas! You have to get out of here!_ ’

You take a few steps back. Your heart pounds in your ears.

“Roxas!”

“Roxas!”

‘ _Roxas!_ ’

You slam your hands over your head. It feels like it’s on fire. The world swims around you, voices jumbling together, the colors in the edge of your vision like swirling mud. You close your eyes, too. You just want this to stop. You just want to go back to your normal life.

“Hayner!” This is the only thing that makes sense. “Pence!” You throw your head back and yell to the sky. “Olette!” You just want to see their faces again. You just want to hear their voices.

The world stops spinning.

 

 

**_The 5th Day_ **

You win the Struggle tournament, and outside of some strange dreams you have that night, everything’s gone back to normal. Of course, there’s that voice in the back of your head, but you don’t remember what life was like without her, so you count her as normal, too.

And, the normalest thing of all?

Homework.

“We promised we’d do it today!” Olette says, hands on her hips and glaring in turn at each of you. “Pence, back me up!”

Pence shrugs apologetically at you and Hayner. “We _did_ promise,” he says.

“Oh, come on, we only have three days left of summer!” Hayner groans. He starts waving his arms, like he does when he starts getting dramatic. “I don’t even want to think about that assignment. Let us _enjoy_ what’s _left_ of what we have!”

Something about that strikes you as funny. You aren’t sure what, but you get some sort of vision—a memory, the girl tells you, but you don’t believe her—of yourself saying _summer vacation is a whole month!? I don’t know what I’d do with even a DAY off!!_ And next thing you know you’re laughing.

“What’s so funny, Roxas!” Hayner demands, leaning down in your direction. He’s glaring up a storm.

“I dunno!” you tell him, brightly. You grin in Olette’s direction. “But Olette’s right—we should get this assignment out of the way, then we can enjoy the rest of summer without worrying about it.”

Olette claps her hands together. “Great! That’s three votes against one Hayner.”

Hayner groans, louder this time. “ _Fiiiiine._ Any of you losers got a bright idea for a topic?”

A part of you thinks of suggesting doing the report on all the weird things that are happening to you, but you discard the idea quickly. You’d rather not think about those things. You _definitely_ don’t want to do a report on them.

Pence leans in though, a smile playing on his lips, his eyes gleaming.

“Have the three of you ever heard of… _the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town_?”

 

**x   x   x**

 

You all head to Sunset Terrace to start investigating the rumors for the Seven Wonders. The first wonder—stairs that apparently count different going up and down—is a bust. But there are still six others to check out. You all split up.

You head first to the mysterious wall Pence told you about. It’s a dead end to one of the alleys, and as you approach, a ball flies out of the alley and hits the opposite wall.

‘ _Whoa, what the!’_ the girl inside you shouts in surprise. It’s the first time she’s spoken all day. ‘ _Roxas, go check it out!’_

You do, and instead of finding anyone back there who could have thrown the ball, you find nothing. You reach out and put your hand on the wall.

“Weird…” you say, to yourself, to the girl inside you.

Just then, a hole in the wall like some sort of portal opens up, and a ball comes shooting out of it. Three more holes open up, and three more balls shoot out after the first. You’re forced to retreat back into the street.

‘ _Examine the wall!_ ’ the girl chimes, like it’s some kind of mission. The thought makes you smile, though. (You think she’s humoring you, maybe as some kind of attempt to make up for yesterday, but you don’t say anything about it.)

You swiftly dodge between the balls flying at you, making your way to the back wall again. There’s a thrill in your veins, and the girl inside of you laughs and laughs and it’s so good to hear that you forget you’re mad at her.

You finally make it to the wall, and there _are_ these weird portals opening up in it? You think you recognize them, but you aren’t sure what to do about it.

‘ _Might as well try the Keyblade_ ,’ the girl says.

You shrug, and summon it to you. Might as well, you agree. You tap the wall with it.

The portals stop.

“Whoa!” comes a voice from behind you. It’s Pence. You run to meet him, and immediately he looks relieved, and lets out a sigh. “Haha, oh, it was just you Roxas,” he says, and he laughs and scratches at his cheek. “That ball looked like it came out of nowhere! Guess that solves one of the mysteries.”

You blink at him.

“Wait, what?” you say. “I didn’t throw that! The wall just—” But you break off, because he doesn’t look like he’s paying any attention to you. And, though this street _should_ be littered with all the balls that had been chucked at you, it’s totally clean.

Pence still isn’t listening to you, anyway.

‘ _Wasn’t there another rumor in the tunnels?’_ the girl asks. ‘ _Come on, let’s go check that one out! Maybe it’ll be less confusing._ ’

The tunnel _is_ closest, and the girl sounds so excited that you’re happy to oblige. You’d have to check it out at some point, anyway.

 

**x   x   x**

 

Strange sounds echo out of the tunnel as you approach it, which, is what the rumor was about. Wanting to catch who or whatever is making those sounds before they vanish, you hurry inside.

“ _Vivi_!?” you exclaim in surprise, once you’re deep enough in the tunnel to see him. He’s practicing with his struggle bat, and you tense upon seeing him.

You’re right to, it turns out, because suddenly there’s not one Vivi, but three.

‘ _Defeat the Vivis!’_ the girl calls—like it’s another mission.

You summon your Keyblade.

It’s… fun, to call it a mission, actually. It’s kind of weird to be attacked by an entire horde of Vivi clones, but you’re laughing as you swing your Keyblade at them, because they all go down in one hit.

‘ _Four,’_ the girl counts, and keeps counting. ‘ _Five, six… Come on, Roxas, you can do better than this! Nine, ten…’_

There’s thirteen Vivis in all. You’re laughing by the time they’re all gone, and it’s not stress or nerves, that was legitimately _fun._ Only skateboarding has ever come close to this feeling, in your memory. And, maybe there’s something else you don’t remember. You don’t worry about it, though. The sound of this girl’s laughter reverberating in your mind is enough.

“Huh…? Roxas?”

You stop laughing and you spin around, Keyblade drawn. It’s Vivi. He jumps at the sight of you, this time.

“Oh, were you training here?” he says. “I guess I’ll come back later.”

You watch him leave, frowning.

 _The real Vivi….?_ you wonder.

‘ _Hmm.’_

You don’t even have a moment of peace after that.

“Roxas!!” comes Olette’s voice, and then she’s running into the tunnel. She stops to catch her breath in front of you. “I heard some pretty weird noises, and Vivi told me you were in here on his way out, so I came to- to make sure you were okay!”

“Um, yeah, I’m fine,” you answer. You wonder if your laughter echoed out of the cave. Then you wonder how weird it must have sounded. “Listen, I found a whole bunch of Vivi clones in here though, so maybe that’s—”

“Oh, that’s it!” Olette pounds a fist into her open palm. “Vivi said he was coming to practice in here—that _must_ be what people hear when they walk past! Vivi practicing!”

You frown, offput. “Well, yeah, on a day-to-day basis, probably,” you agree. You doubt there’s _always_ Vivi clones in here. “But right now, there were a _ton_ of Vivis, and maybe we should bring that up in the report… Olette?”

It’s no use. She isn’t listening to you.

In fact, she’s already heading outside the tunnel, probably to go tell Pence about her discovery.

“That’s… a really weird thing that happened twice,” you say.

‘ _Yeah…_ ’ There’s something in the girl’s voice you can’t make out, but there’s also an unsettling feeling in your stomach. The same one you tend to get when she wants to insist there’s something wrong. You push that thought away.

“Well, there’s still a couple more wonders to check out!” you say, trying to sound chipper.

‘ _Yeah!_ ’ Her excitement seems a little forced. ‘ _What are we waiting for? Let’s go!_ ’

You run out of the tunnels.

 

**x   x   x**

The next closest wonder is at the waterfall. It’s on the other side of Sunset Terrace, but it’s still not more than a couple minutes’ walk. You wonder why none of your friends have checked this one out already.

 _Apparently people see their doppelgangers here, or something,_ you tell the girl as you approach the waterfall. (She probably knows this already, she was there when Pence explained, but you like talking to her anyway.)

‘ _Looks like a regular old waterfall to me,’_ she says, when you examine it.

 _Yeah,_ you agree.

‘ _I mean,’_ she continues, a little skeptical now. ‘ _I don’t think reflections in a waterfall are SUPPOSED to be this clear, though. You’d think running water would be too hard to reflect off of… right?’_

 _Maybe there’s a mirror behind it?_ you suggest. You don’t entirely believe it, but you reach out your hand to check behind the waterfall anyway.

Before you can even touch the water, your reflection comes to life and walks out of the waterfall.

“Ack!” you shout, stumbling back.

Your reflection, glassy eyed, keeps walking, and it walks right through you. A shiver goes up and down your spine, and as soon as it passes, you turn around to face your reflection—

It’s not your reflection anymore. It’s turned dark, inky black, more like your shadow taken life…

No.

That’s not your shadow.

The shadow figure is shaped like another boy, he’s a little shorter, a little leaner. You recognize the shape of his face, and the flow of his movements.

He’s the boy from your dreams.

(You know his name, too, but you refuse to think it.)

‘ _Roxas, Keyblade!_ ’ the girl in you shouts. When you hesitate a moment too long, the Keyblade appears in your hand without you calling it. It’s black.

That was all you needed to break you out of your shock. The shadowy boy in front of you twirls and spins his Keyblade. If you had not blocked it, it would have crashed into the side of your head.

The shadow boy seems to laugh. He pulls back. Your heart pounds. You leap into the air and bring your Keyblade up across his face.

He staggers back. Then he sinks into the ground like some kind of Heartless—Heartless?—and moves under your feet. Before you can spin around, his Keyblade cracks against your back, and you fall forward.

You turn the fall into a roll. Your vision is blurring at the edges.

‘ _Come on, Roxas, you can do this!_ ’

You clench your fists around your Keyblade. You run at the shadow boy.

You swing, he blocks. When you move to attack again, he retaliates. It’s a devastating blow that knocks you through the air. You land on your side, you skid through the dirt. Your shoulder burns.

You hear footsteps, feel movement. The shadow boy jumps at you, ready to bring his Keyblade down on your chest. You brace your Keyblade with both hands above you, block him, throw him off.

Your head pounds as you stagger to your feet. You taste iron in your mouth. Feel grains of sand still pressed against your cheek.

You have to make it out of this, you _have_ to, but you know the boy in your dreams. You know how he fights. You know he’s a million times better than you.

 ‘ _It’s okay, Roxas. Focus.’_

You grit your teeth and you run at the shadow boy again. There’s a warmth about to burst from your chest.

You swing, and your blade goes clean through his middle. Then you guard. He brings his own blade down _hard_ on your defenses, but you hold firm. Your vision swims, but you hold firm. You hold firm.

Finally he backs off. Lighting quick, you slice at him again. This hit connects too—as in, it cleaves right through him, anyway. You think that’s a good thing. You hope that’s a good thing.

He’s moving a little slower now. You are too.

 ‘ _Just one more hit. Let’s make it count!’_

You move at him again. Something burns under your skin. Your Keyblade glows brightly, gleaming through the air, and you bring it down with all your might.

The shadow boy vanishes. You fall to your knees, gasping for air.

‘ _We did it, Roxas! We did it!’_ She sounds as relieved as you feel. Honestly, you can’t really believe it, but you’re glad.

You wipe the dirt off your cheek and swallow the blood in your mouth. Just a few more moments, you’ll sit here, and then you’ll—

“Roxas!”

You look up at the sound of Hayner’s voice. He’s rushing towards you.

“Yo, you alright?” Hayner asks, as he helps you to your feet. “What were you doing on the ground? Dirt taste good!” He laughed at his joke, clapping you on the back.

“No!” you tell him, scowling. “Listen, Hayner, my reflection came out of the waterfall, and it turned into this shadowy guy, and then—”

Hayner laughs loudly, like that’s a joke. “What! Come on, man. You tryin’ to scare me or something?”

“No way! Hayner, please…”

“Enough goofing around, Roxas. We still got other wonders to check out. I’m guessing this one was a dud, huh?” Before you can answer, Hayner goes to study the waterfall himself. “Yeah! Just a reflection, nothing spooky about it. It’s _definitely_ not coming to life or anything. I better go tell Pence!”

Laughing to himself, he runs off.

You swallow. You feel like you’re about to be sick, and it’s not because you just had the crud beaten out of you.

‘ _Listen, Roxas…’_ the girl begins.

You shake your head.

 _It’s fine,_ you tell her. _I’m fine._

 

**x   x   x**

The next rumor is a hundred times less stressful, and a thousand times sillier. There’s a sack on Sunset Hill that’s running around on its own, but it’s obvious that there’s just some animal inside. You chase it around, wear it down, and then let it out.

Turns out it’s a dog. The girl inside you is so excited that you pet it for a long time, running your hands through its fur and wondering if she can feel it. You don’t parrot _all_ of the things she wants to say to the dog, but do you tell it good girl a couple times.

Your friends finally interrupt you, and you let the dog go.

“Alright, I know all the other wonders were duds,” Pence says. “But this next one’s gonna be _the_ one!” He lowers his voice and wiggles his fingers. “For they say the Ghost Train is empty. No driver, no conductor, no passengers… no RETURN.”

Hayner groans and rolls his eyes. You and Olette have a good chuckle.

“Anyway, we can see it from here!” Pence says, waving you all over to the edge of Sunset Hill, where you can see the train tracks below. “Now all we gotta do is sit and wait.”

So you sit, and you wait.

And you wait.

And you wait.

Finally, there’s a rumble of train on tracks, and there it is. A train like none of the others in Twilight Town. It’s purple, and covered in stars, and there’s _definitely_ no one inside it. The windows all look into an empty train.

“Look!” you shout, vaulting to your feet and catching yourself against the fence. You lean down, trying to stare at it as long as you can before it vanishes through the tunnel below you. “And the rumors _are_ true—It’s totally empty!”

You turn to grin at your three friends. They don’t look nearly as excited, but you don’t pay it any mind.

“Come on, what’s the catch? There’s gotta be a catch, right?”

The three of them exchange glances. Olette looks uneasy. Hayner’s scowling. Pence stutters an answer, but doesn’t get further than a few syllables.

“Then it’s real!?” Your heart swells inside your chest. “Let’s go to the station!”

You take off running down the hill, taking the fastest path you know back to the station. You have to stop and wait for your friends once you get there, because they aren’t even hurrying. You count it lucky the train hasn’t left by the time they finally catch up.

“Let’s check it out,” you say, and you approach the train.

Hayner catches you by the arm, pulling you back.

“What?” you snap, as you turn to him.

His eyes are narrowed with worry.

“Um…. you’ll get hurt?” he answers.

You frown at that for a moment, then turn back to the train. There is no train.

“But- But it was right here!” you stammer. Your stomach has bottomed out, and you look at your three friends, pleading. All of them look nervous, and they shake their heads. Your palms feel sweaty. Your mouth works for words you cannot find.

You feel betrayed.

‘ _It… it was probably a MAGIC train,’_ the girl in your head offers. You bite your tongue to keep from yelling at her. She’s only trying to help. ‘ _So… I mean… It vanishing like that isn’t really that surprising…?’_

She doesn’t sound very confident, though. And for the first time, it’s you who think it before her.

_Something’s wrong._

 

**_The 6th Day_ **

You wake up feeling a little strange, a little woozy, the whole world spinning around you. You swear you catch a glimpse of someone else in the mirror, but then it’s just your face, and you settle into yourself again.

You try not to think about the dreams you had last night, as you dig into your dresser for clothes. Those dreams had little to do with the boy you’re used to seeing. You think they weren’t his memories, but your own? That feels right, though it still makes you uncomfortable. You end up abandoning your dresser and going for clothes on the floor—you wore these a few days ago, but they make you feel comfortable and more you, so putting them on is a nice way to keep your mind off other things.

 _Hey, thanks for yesterday, by the way,_ you tell the girl inside you, as you head out of your apartment and to the Usual Spot. You hadn’t had the chance to thank her last night, being all caught up in your friends not believing you about the wonders, and then the things Namine said. But you make sure to thank her now. _You really didn’t have to, um, do all that for me?_

‘ _Oh, yeah, no problem!_ ’ she says brightly. She sounds touched. ‘ _It was pretty fun, wasn’t it? Making dull stuff like that a game._ ’

You nod your head. _Yeah!_

‘ _You know…’_ she says, at length. ‘ _I think, if it’s like this from here on… I think I’d be okay with that.’_

You don’t really understand what she means, when she says that, but you’re glad she’s content.

 _I think I’d be okay with it, too,_ you tell her. Maybe having her in your head won’t be too bad, after all.

You wait a long while before asking the other question you want to ask, because you know it’s a little weird. But soon you’re approaching the Usual Spot, and you have to ask her now or put it off until tonight. You decide you can’t wait. You stop walking.

 _Hey…_ You think if you were saying this out loud, you’d be whispering. _Can you tell me your name again?_

She hesitates.

‘ _Roxas… You know that’s no good, right? Even if I do tell you, you still aren’t going to remember it.’_

 _I know,_ you say. You’ve asked her this a couple times before, and her name still hasn’t cemented itself in your brain. It’s like water that keeps slipping through your fingers. _Tell me anyway._

‘ _I…’_

_Please?_

She hesitates a second more, and then she speaks.

Her name is like static in your ears.

 

**x   x   x**

 

Things start to go wrong the moment you enter the Usual Spot. Your friends are gathered around the broken furnace Hayner usually stands around, laughing about something. That’s not unusual.

“Hey guys!” you call in greeting.

They act like they don’t hear you.

“Guys?”

You walk over, and though Pence and Olette should see you, they don’t comment. You reach out to grab Hayner by the shoulder—

Your hand goes right through him.

While you’re still reeling from that, all three of them turn and run for the exit. They run right through you. They don’t make a sound, like they’re all ghosts. You aren’t sure they were making sounds when you came in here.

Your heart feels like it’s in your stomach. You turn and run out of the Usual Spot, because there’s nothing to do here, because maybe if you follow them things will go back to normal in a moment, because maybe…

Axel is waiting outside for you. You let go of all hopes things might turn out normal.

“Look what it’s come down to,” he groans, as a few Dusks show up and block all the other ways out of here. “I’ve been given these icky orders to _destroy_ you if you don’t come back with me. It’s like they really wanna make me suffer or something.”

The girl in your head seems a little surprised. You clear your throat.

“H-Hey, we’re… best friends, right?” you ask him. Maybe you can get out of this without a fight.

Axel laughs, scratching his neck and looking to the side. “Well, yeah, but I’m not gonna get turned into a Dusk for—” He stops then, seeming to have registered what you just said. There’s a hope in his eyes when he looks up at you. “Wait, you remember now!?”

“Uh, y- yeah,” you say.

It’s mostly true. You remember a lot more than you used to, including a lot about the Organization, even if it’s just more _feelings_ than any sort of concrete details. And, you don’t think you needed Namine telling you that you and Axel had been best friends to know. You remember that, for sure.

“Great!” Axel grins at you. “But, uh, gotta make sure and all. So…” He hums to himself a moment, scratching at his head as he tries to come up with a good test question. You try not to eye the Dusks around you too nervously. “What’s our boss’s name?” he asks, finally.

“Um…” you begin, not entirely sure.

‘ _Xemnas!_ ’ the girl in your head shouts. ‘ _It’s Xemnas!’_

“Xemnas?” you say.

Axel blinks at you a few times, looking rather taken aback. “Holy…. You _do_ remember!” he said, and, eyes gleaming, he leans a little towards you. “What’s my favorite ice cream flavor?”

“Sea salt,” you answer. You don’t need help with that one.

“Mr. Number 2 in the Organization? What’s his name?”

‘ _Xigbar,’_ the girl says before you have a chance to hesitate. ‘ _He used to call you tiger all the time, and—’_

“It’s Xigbar,” you tell Axel. “He had an eyepatch. Called me tiger all the time, and I _really_ hated it.” Some of these facts are still fuzzy in your head, but you _definitely_ remember hating the nickname tiger.

Axel gapes at you for a moment, and then he lets out a sigh of relief.

“You really do remember,” he says. “Boy does that make my job easier. So, uh.” He clears his throat nervously, then holds out a hand towards you. “You’ll come back with me, right?”

You consider him a moment, though you already know your answer.

You may not remember everything about the Organization still, but you remember they weren’t exactly the greatest to work for, you remember questioning their motives. You remember leaving—you wanted some answers; about yourself, about the Keyblade. You remember promising someone that you wouldn’t let Xemnas have his way.

And, besides. You’re pretty sure that girl in your head would find a way to kill you if you agreed to go with Axel.

“No,” you say.

“What?”

“I’m not going back with you,” you clarify, as Axel reels.

Axel swallows visibly. “Listen, Roxas, I know things were pretty rough when you left, but—”

“I’m _not_ going back,” you repeat, with a little more enunciation, just in case.

Axel stares at you. Then he sighs.

“Fine.” He summons his chakrams to him, shaking his head. “I guess it’s back to Plan B, then. You’re coming with me one way or another, Roxas.” He points a chakram right at you.

“I don’t think so,” you answer calmly, calling your Keyblade to your hand.

Axel rears back his chakrams to throw. The Dusks start closing in on you. You ready your Keyblade.

Before anything can happen, time stops.

Axel stops mid-swing. The Dusks all stop mid-step.

“What the…?” you say under your breath.

‘ _Looks like time’s completely halted,’_ the girl says, as you take a step closer to examine Axel.

“Roxas!” calls a voice that seems to come from all around you, or above you, somewhere. It’s a deep voice. Maybe you’ve heard it once before. “Hurry, to the mansion! The time has come.”

You hesitate. Glance over at the Usual Spot. Back at the frozen Dusks surrounding you. At Axel. You grip the Keyblade tightly in your hand, not sure what to do.

‘ _Namine’s at the mansion, isn’t she?’_ the girl in your head offers, after a few moments. ‘ _Maybe she has some answers. And, I know she’s someone we can trust, even if everyone else seems a little sketchy. Come on, Roxas!’_

You swallow, but you nod.

“Yeah…” you agree.

(You have to slip kind of awkwardly past the Dusks that are mostly blocking your way to the Sandlot, but otherwise, you’re on your way.)

 

**x   x   x**

 

You know the way to the mansion just fine, and outside of embarrassingly needing to be reminded by the girl in your head what Keyblades are good for, have no trouble getting in.

“Now where?” you ask, taking stock of things. On the inside, the mansion is pretty ruined. Statues are crumbling, there’s a pile of rubble in front of one of the doors, another door is off its hinges, and part of the bannister of the stairs is missing. And that’s all you notice at a _glance_.

‘ _Upstairs, to the left,_ ’ the girl answers.

“You been here before?”

‘ _Something like that.’_

You wonder briefly about where she came from, and again, what she’s doing in your head. Sometimes you get the feeling she had another life, just like you did? But, how does someone go from living their own life, in their own body, to riding backseat in someone else’s? It doesn’t entirely make sense.

That’s all you have time to ponder before you make it to the place the girl told you to go. The door is ajar. You push it open.

You’ve been in this room before—or, you’ve _seen_ it before, anyway. This is where you and Namine talked yesterday. The walls are lined with her drawings, and there’s a table in the center of the room. There’s only a few things on it: a flower vase with wilting flowers, a sketchbook, and a few colored pencils.

“She’s not here…” you say. You’d kind of hoped Namine would be.

‘ _Well, maybe she’ll show up if we wait,’_ the girl says, sounding pretty confident. ‘ _This seems like the most likely place to meet her, and she helped me out before, so…!’_

You nod. If she doesn’t show up soon, you figure the guy who called you here will. To kill time, you examine some of the pictures around the room.

There are only three pictures of you. One is lying on the table: a picture of you, and Axel, and another figure with a blurred face. You study it closely, trying to see if you can make out who it’s supposed to be, but your eyes don’t even want to focus on it.

You give up and wander to another one of the pictures—this one you’ve already seen, so you head straight for it. It’s a picture of you holding hands with that boy from your dreams. The sight of it makes your stomach roil, so you move on.

The next picture you find of yourself is taped to the wall near the ground, next to a bookshelf. You have to bend a bit to see it. The you in the picture is running through a dark city. Just looking at it brings reverberations of a memory to your mind, but you tear your eyes away from the picture before it can get too strong. You remember leaving the Organization well enough.

“Roxas?”

Namine’s voice.

You turn around, and she’s sitting in the chair on the opposite side of the table from where you’re standing. Your chest swells with relief.

“It’s… It’s good to see you,” you tell her, taking a few steps towards the table. Something feels stuck in your throat.

She smiles back at you, but it’s a little cautiously. There’s a hesitation in her voice when she asks: “Is… is there something you need?”

“I…” you hesitate yourself, but there’s only one question you want to ask, and you can’t think of any other questions that could delay it. You swallow. Your throat still is tight. “What’s going to happen to me?” you ask her. Your chest feels so heavy.

“Well…” Namine looks a little uncomfortable, and she takes a moment to sort her words before speaking. The girl inside you bristles. “This… This may not be the easiest thing to hear, or to do, Roxas, but—”

Her voice cuts short. Before your eyes, Namine bursts into a bunch of pixels, and she vanishes.

“NAMINE!!” you shout, taking a step forward. You reach out a hand towards her, though you know there’s nothing you could do.

A man appears then, in another burst of pixels. He’s all dressed in red—the man who stopped you and Axel’s fight, after the Struggle tournament. He looks as displeased as he did then, and his voice is no kinder.

“There is no knowledge that has the power to change your fate,” he says.

You recognize his voice now. He’s the man who called you to the mansion.

Your face turns down in a scowl—one you aren’t entirely sure is just your own.

“So? I still want to know!”

He scoffs at you.

“A Nobody does not have the right to know. It does not even have the right to _be._ ”

“N- _Nobody_?” you repeat, in surprise. You’ve heard the word before, of course you have, because Dusks are Nobodies. But, he’s almost talking as if _you’re_ a…? That can’t be right! Can… it?

“We’re out of time!” comes another voice, and a dark corridor opens, letting out the man in the black cloak. He has his hood up, just like he has every other time you’ve met him. “There’s too many Nobodies around the mansion. Even I can’t hold them off!”

Alarm flares inside you.

‘ _Wait, if RIKU can’t hold off the Nobodies, then…’_ the girl seems upset, and coupled with that is the undeniable idea that if it’s too much for Riku to handle, then there really _must_ be a lot of them. The thought of this place being overrun by Dusks and other Nobodies terrifies you. Never mind them taking you back to the Organization, if what Axel said is true, they’ll _kill_ you.

Wait a minute. Isn’t Riku—?

Another dark corridor opens, before the guy in the red or the guy in the black can say anything more.

Namine steps out of this one.

“Roxas!” she calls, with the urgency of someone who knows they do not have much time to speak. “Nobodies like you and me are only half a person! You _won’t_ disappear, I promise! You’ll be whole!”

You stagger back a little.

“I’ll- _disappear_!?” you repeat, voice strangled.

“No, you—”

But then the man in red is rushing over to Namine and grabbing at her. He yanks her to him, covers her mouth with his hand. She reaches up, trying to pry it off.

Your Keyblade appears in your hand without you calling it. (If not consciously doing so was not enough indication, then the fact it’s black cements it.) You don’t tell your feet to move, either, but you’re running forward anyway, Keyblade ready.

“LET HER GO!” you scream.

Or rather, the girl in your head screams through you.

When she is in control of your body like this, you can feel what she feels, and that’s a white hot anger.

The man in the black blocks you before you can get anywhere near to Namine.

“ _Riku_!” the girl shouts through you. “How can you let him do this to her!?”

The man in the black— _Riku??_ —takes a step back in surprise.

Namine yanks the hand away from her mouth. Her eyes are wide in shock.

She opens her mouth and she shouts a name that’s static in your ears.

Your heart leaps in your chest. Riku turns to her now, and though you can’t see his face, you imagine his eyes are wide in surprise, too. You wonder if he heard static, like you did.

The man in red takes this moment of distraction as an opportunity. He opens a dark corridor around himself and Namine.

“Riku, _please!_ You can’t let him hurt her!” the girl says, still using your mouth.

Riku turns to you for a moment.

Then he leaves through a dark corridor of his own.

The Keyblade vanishes from your hand, and the girl slowly relinquishes control of your body. She feels shaky. Or maybe that’s just you. You take a shuddering breath, either way, heart still pounding, and a million things racing through your mind.

‘ _Sorry about that…’_ the girl says, embarrassment ringing through her voice. ‘ _I just couldn’t stand to see him—’_

 _It’s fine,_ you tell her. You think you probably would have done the same, had she not. _You… You know Namine?_

 _‘Yeah. A little.’_ A warmth beats in your chest. ‘ _She helped me out a few times, and we talked, got to know each other… Not as much as I would have liked, but. Yeah. I knew her.’_

You try to wrap your mind around that, and all the other things tied to it. Not only does the girl in the back of your head know Namine, she’s _definitely_ talking like she had a life before you, too. How- How _does_ someone get into this position? Why with _you_?

And, more importantly…

“She… she knows your name,” you say, aloud this time. You doubt anyone’s listening.

‘ _Y- yeah._ ’ The girl seems stunned. ‘ _I’m surprised she remembers it. I- I thought no one would be able to…’_

She trails off. You get the feeling she doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Listen…” you begin.

‘ _We have to hurry,’_ she interrupts, before you can get any further. _‘You heard Riku, didn’t you? If there are too many Nobodies for HIM, then we really don’t have much time at all. Let’s get going.’_

“Do you know where we need to go?”

‘ _Yeah._ ’

 

**x   x   x**

 

The sight of the room downstairs brings flickers of memory to your mind. ( _“If we can keep the simulated town running long enough….” “…he’ll have to give it back eventually…” “It’s the fate of a Nobody…”_ ) You take one look at the computer sitting in the corner and decide you can’t stand the sight of it, so you summon your Keyblade to your hand.

The girl in your head does not judge you, for smashing it to pieces. You do sense a burning urgency about her, though. Maybe it hadn’t been worth the time, but you do _feel_ a little better.

‘ _Come on,’_ she tells you. ‘ _It’s the only door down here.’_

The next room is wide and open and nearly empty. There’s only one door leading out of it, too. You move towards it.

A wall of flames bursts to life before it, blocking the door, then more flames flare up and run along the walls, encircling the room in a ring of fire.

“Axel!” you shout, turning around. You know it’s him before you see him, walking through the wall of fire like it’s nothing, arms folded over his chest.

“You’re too late, Roxas,” Axel says. There’s a wild look in his eyes. “I already gave you your chance.”

‘ _I know that look,’_ the girl inside you says. She sounds the tiniest bit nervous. ‘ _And seeing as his orders are to kill you…’_

 _What do we do?_ you ask her.

She thinks a moment, then you think she smiles.

‘ _Follow my lead.’_

She moves your left hand, and in a burst of sparks, her Keyblade appears, gleaming black in the firelight.

You smile a little yourself. To your right hand you summon _your_ Keyblade, shining and white.

You don’t need any more prompting. You twirl the Keyblades in your hands, clash them against each other for a little flair, then hold them ready at your sides. Axel reels a little, but he’s only off balance for a moment. He summons his chakrams.

You run at him before they’re fully there, catch him with an upwards swing before he can move. You remember fighting like this before, but it’s less like you’re remembering what to do, and more like there’s an energy flowing through you, guiding you. It’s like two minds moving in tandem, in a dance that’s closer and bigger than the dance of battle, two blades arcing through the air.

You feel lighter than you ever felt, and even as Axel’s chakrams spiral against your stomach, you want to laugh. There’s something powerful and wonderful bursting inside of you, flooding through your veins. You let it out and it solidifies as bright streaks of light, all of them raining down on Axel.

Honestly, he doesn’t stand a chance.

Even in all his desperation and with all the tricks up his sleeve, with two Keyblades in your hands, and this feeling burning in your chest, you’re unstoppable.

Finally you crack both Keyblades against his side and he staggers back, wheezing and pressing a hand to his mouth.

“Looks like you win this time, Roxas.” He coughs. The flames on the edges of the room start to whither.

“Sorry, Axel,” you reply, a little sarcastic, a little sincere. He’d asked for it. But you do feel bad for beating him. Especially now that he…

He staggers back a few steps more. He appears to be fading.

“See you in the next life?” Axel asks.

“S- Sure.”

Axel chuckles. “Silly. Just because _you_ have a next life…”

He vanishes.

You let the Keyblades in your hands disappear. Something uneasy roils in your stomach.

‘ _I’m sorry, Roxas,’_ the girl says. ‘ _I…’_

There’s something heavy in her words, a weight in them that you think goes deeper than just this moment, though you aren’t sure why. The floaty, wonderful feeling you felt just seconds ago is gone.

“It’s fine,” you say, to the empty room. “There… There wasn’t another way.”

You move towards the door again. It feels like Fate is breathing down your neck.

 

**x   x   x**

The room you enter is large, circular, white. There are green designs like spiraling circuitry on the floor. In the dead center is some sort of machine, like a flowerbud bursting up from the ground, large and painted in whites and pale purples.

It’s clouded, from this distance, so you can’t _see_ the boy floating in there, in a suspended sleep. You don’t need to. You know who it is.

“At last,” a voice says, and then the man in red appears between you and the pod. There is a glint in his eyes. “The Keyblade’s chosen.”

Your entire body tenses up. Feeling bitter, you call sarcastically: “Who you talking to? Me? Or _Sora_?”

His name is the foulest thing you have ever tasted.

“To half of Sora, of course,” the man in red replies, and your blood boils.

“Very _funny,_ ” you spit.

He chuckles. And then he laughs, throwing his head back a moment. “Indeed it is!” he says, like it’s some kind of joke. “To think that a _Nobody_ could have such delusions of self.”

That’s as much as you can take. You summon your Keyblade, and you run at him.

You swipe right through his middle, your blade going right through him, numbers and pixels parting to let it pass. You blink a few times in surprise, then straighten, turning around to look at him. He laughs again.

“My apologies,” he says, and he doesn’t even turn to look at you. “This is only a data-based projection.”

You scrunch up your face, and then you open your mouth and out comes this horrible _scream,_ wrenching itself out from the deepest part of your being. It echoes emptily in this room. You swing at the man in red, again and again and again, tears burning in your eyes, until your arms are sore and you’re out of breath.

He vanishes.

You take a few minutes, trying to get breath in your lungs, trying to keep the breath that’s escaping from sounding like sobs.

“Come. Over here.”

You whip your head around. The man in red stands next to the pod now. There’s a sense of satisfaction in his voice, a sense of _amusement,_ though his face is blank.

“I hate you _so. much,”_ you grind out, clenching your fists tightly.

“You should share some of that anger with Sora,” the man in red says.

You swipe your hand through the air. “No _way!_ My heart belongs to _ME!_ ” It’s an argument as much as it is a plea. Your chest screws up in desperation. You’re… You’re _you,_ right? You can’t be anyone else!

“Hmm.” The man in red considers you for a moment, and then he vanishes, leaving you alone with…

The petals of the flowerbud crack open, a bright light shining from the cracks as they part. There’s a hiss of machinery, and the petals come down, parting and revealing the boy inside. The boy from your dreams.

Sora.

You turn away from him, and you toss your Keyblade at the ground, doubling over as you scream:

“IT’S NOT FAIR! _IT’S NOT! FAIR!!_ ”

How can anyone ask you to do this? To give up all you have so that _this boy,_ this _Sora,_ can live _his_ life? Why is his life so much more important than yours? Your stomach twists up in knots.

‘ _Roxas,’_ says the girl inside you, cautiously. ‘ _Please…’_

You shake your head, clutching at your hair.

“I WON’T DO IT!” you shout. “I WON’T!!!”

‘ _Roxas, he needs us.’_

“I’M NOT HIM!! I’M! ME!! _I’M ME._ ”

‘ _Roxas…’_

You fall to your knees, clawing at the ground. It is smooth, like marble, and you find no purchase. Your fingertips just feel raw, as you keep scraping them against it, trying to find something to hold onto even though you know there is nothing there. Something is pulling, between you and Sora. Something is resonating, and you can’t stand it.

“You _can’t_ make me _do_ this,” you plead. Warm tears run down your cheeks. You taste salt in your mouth. “Don’t- Don’t you _understand_? You? Of- of all people….”

She’s been in your head all this time. Surely she understands what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling. She can’t ask you to do this.

She hesitates a moment. You’re too smothered in the weight of your own pain and desperation to realize, but your words have struck a chord with her. When she speaks, her voice is watery, like she’s crying.

‘ _I do,’_ she tells you. ‘ _I never- I never said this was easy.’_

You curl your hands into fists, and touch your forehead to the ground. There is a tempest inside you, roaring through your heart, and you don’t think it’ll ever calm. All you want to do is take your Keyblade and chuck it right at Sora’s stupid face.

You hate it so much. How can he look so calm? How can he sleep so peacefully, while _you’re_ being torn apart inside?

‘ _There’s… there’s no other way,’_ the girl inside you says. Her voice trembles. ‘ _If- If you don’t, he’ll never wake up.’_

“Then- THEN HE CAN SLEEP _FOREVER_!” you scream, choking on the words. You hate it, but, as you war with the decision before you, as you weigh it in your hands, you can only see one way.

It’s not like you have anywhere to go. You can’t go back to the Organization. The Twilight Town you know is a fake. Even if you go to the real one, what’s to say the Organization won’t find you there?

You’ll reject it with everything you have, but, you know there isn’t another option.

‘ _I know it’s hard, Roxas,’_ the girl inside you says, and though her voice still shakes, her presence stands firm, like a sentinel. ‘ _It was hard for me too. But… he needs us. And we need him.’_

You drag yourself to your feet.

You look up at Sora.

Your mouth works.

“Sora…” His name is still vile on your tongue. You scrunch up your face, searching for words. “You’re… You’re lucky—”

You break off with a heaving sob, and have to press the back of your hand against your burning eyes. You can’t believe you’re going to do this. You can’t believe you’re actually going to do _this_.

“Guess- Guess I was right…” you mumble. “Seven days of summer vacation really is too much for me…”

Crying, laughing at the irony of it all, you close your eyes.

 

**x   x   x**

When you wake up, you’re someone else.


End file.
